[Update] User request: 7 tips how to dominate a wiry beard

I quite often get requests from guys all over the world asking for grooming tips. This one came in from a Spanish guy who’s annoyed by his wiry beard. I gave him some useful tips I wanna share.

[Update Feb. 8, 2018] I added some pictures, a video, reviews and some related links to the post

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Hi Beard Instructor,

I am a 25 y.o. spanish guy and as you may know, spanish hair is quite strong, thick and dark. I’ve always been a fan of my beard and I always take care of it by shampooing every time I shampoo my hair and body. I use Head&Shoulders and during some time tried some special product for beards from a “Lush” store but it didn’t give me any result.

I would like to ask you for some help, my beard hair looks crazy, it grows in all different directions and it has the feeling of touching a metal sponge, not so nice … it’s really a wiry beard. I’ve seen your videos and your beard looks really soft and nice combed.

Any suggestion for some products that helps me dominate my beard a little bit?

Thanks! And have a nice day.

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Hey,

thanks for your message – great to see my stuff reaching guys all over the world 🙂 I know your problem pretty well. I guess most likely every guy would like to change his facial hair from time to time. To get straight to the point: you can’t. There are different methods to get hair straightened – both chemical and physical – but sooner or later, the beard will go back to its natural style because the hair grows pretty fast. My beard was neck-long a couple of months ago. When it grows longer, the hair starts to get waves which I wanted to get rid of (because one tends to always want what can’t be reached).

So I went to a barber in town to do a chemical straightening. Well. Beside the fact, I lost a lot of money, of course it turned out it was just a very limited solution. The waves came back after only 5 days and people asked me what happened to my beard because the hair gloss was gone through the chemicals.

Result – reduced waves

I decided then to accept my beard like it is and make the best out of it! I shortened a bit to avoid those waves. Beside that, my beard hair is luckily pretty straight by nature until a certain length, that’s not a result of products! I also don’t brush or shampoo so often as you might think.

To solve your “problem”, you can try the following tips.

1) Accept the nature style of your beard even it’s a wiry beard

You can’t change it! Sometimes I wish to have a beard like yours because this kind of sponge-like beard allows modelling extremely cool shapes. But because my hair is straight, I can’t do this kind of shaping. But I can’t change it. Keep it in your mind – especially short, wiry beards are hard to control!

2) Don’t use Head&Shoulders for your beard

Just don’t! H&S is a product made for the main hair, which has a different structure than a beard. My experience is: using a normal shampoo or shower gel for beard care is ok once in a while. But as soon as you use it regularly, it makes the beard hair feeling wiry and not healthy because the natural protective layer of the hair is being destroyed by the product.

3) Use a beard wash

Use a beard wash: Depot – The Male Tools & Co. product range

Every time you use a shampoo (even a dedicated beard shampoo), you wash out important natural face sebum (the protection layer I mentioned before) which naturally enclosures the hair and keeps it soft. Better use shampoo only once or twice a week. The other times you shower, just roughly wash out the beard with water. A good beard wash is the Depot male tool wash 501.

4) Be careful using hair dryer

Roughly dry with a towel so it’s kept moist, and then let it completely dry just by air. This keeps the hair moist (which is important to keep it soft). This doesn’t apply to your beard as it’s very short, but might be a good tip for guys with longer beards.

5) Get a beard oil

Bullfrog natural beard oil from dm

This should help to untangle the hair, makes it soft and brushable. You will figure out what’s enough for your beard after a while. But too much oil makes your beard looking greasy! Using a few drops is a good start. I tested the Bulldog natural Oil, more product tips below.

6) Keep it natural

Don’t care too much and don’t use too much products. Some of them destroy the natural protection layer of your beard, and also the natural shininess.

7) Buy a good brush and use it daily

A good brush is essential to get rid of a wiry beard

This might be the most important tip – if you brush the beard thoroughly, the natural sebum of the facial skin is being dispensed to your beard, making it soft and shiny on a very natural basis. It can also help to de-curl and let a wiry beard get a bit less wiry.

Watch my video

I made a video about my routine to get rid of my waves:

Some of my favorite products

1) Beard oil luxury option: Penhaligon’s Bayolea Beard Shave Oil – this is pretty costly, I also use it for shaving my head.

2) Beard oil budget option: There are thousands of beard oils out there, I think it’s just a matter of scent which one you choose. An example which I can recommend is Mr. Natty’s Beard Elixir or make one yourself.

3) Shampoo: Selective Professional all in one beard shampoo or the Depot product mentioned in the text.

4) Brush: I would buy one made from pig bristles. These are strong bristles stimulating the skin to produce more face sebum. I am using a Japanese brush.

You may also have a look at my essential grooming toolbox or check out my partner’s online shop mootes.ch – they offer a wide range of natural beard oils, soaps and grooming tools!

I hope my tips will help you to say “goodbuy” to your wiry beard, but keep in mind: very short, curly, thick hair is hard to control even when soft. Let me know if it works and also if you have further questions!

Do you need some help as well? Drop me a line and I will try my best to get you happy!

Beard addicted, graphic designer, project manager, teacher, cat lover, coffee drinker, iphoneographer and photographer, instagramer, blogger, world traveller, eater, cook and a happy bear. Born in Germany, living in Switzerland. I hope to share my passion for beards with the help of this blog with you. Enjoy :)

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